The Colonial and Capitalistic Legacies of Nigeria’s Skin Bleaching Epidemic

Nigeria has the highest number of people who have used skin-bleaching products, reflecting a phenomenon that is not merely a beauty preference but a symptom of colonial legacies, global beauty standards, and capitalist structures that privilege lighter skin.

Nigeria is the capital of skin-bleaching practices in the world with 77 per cent of women using skin-bleaching products. The drive to bleach one’s skin has been articulated by scholars as one influenced by skin-tone discrimination and colorism. Colorism, according to the Black womanist writer, Alice Walker is ‘a prejudicial and preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their skin colour.’ While Walker speaks to a context overdetermined by whiteness, colorism is however not just an American condition. It is deeply ingrained in African societies, fuelled by historical colonial influences, global beauty standards, and socio-economic structures. I situate my own argument within Nigeria’s sociopolitical and historical contexts as a post-colonial geography, where the practice of skin bleaching exemplifies one of our nation’s historical trajectories. While colorism affects both men and women, Ghanian historian and anthropologist, Jemima Pierre (2024) and American Sociologist Margaret Hunter (2005) have articulated that the impact and damaging effect of colorism is more pronounced on women due to the pervasive beauty and patriarchal standards that place greater emphasis on women’s appearance. The dynamics of power and attractability in many societies ties women’s value to their physical appearance, and lighter-skinned women are idealized as the standard for beauty and desirability.

A ripple effect of this idealistic push is not unconnected to capital. The skin bleaching industry in Nigeria is worth $2.09 billion, thriving on the exploitation of women and profiting off their insecurities. As there is an ingrained ideology that light-skin/whiteness fosters social status, professional advantages and economic opportunities, women who seek to enjoy this white beauty privilege are compelled to alter their skin. However, in this patriarchal and capitalist-driven skin-bleaching industry, corporations obscure the health risks and psychological consequences of bleaching practices. I argue that to speak comprehensively to the skin bleaching epidemic in Nigeria, we must excavate the historical roots of skin-tone discrimination, skin-bleaching practices and their economic, social and psychological impacts on girls and women.